John 15: 9-17 Most of us, I think, would agree that words are important. What we say and how we say what we say matters, right? Words are important. Our words, in any situation, at any given time, reflecting a piece of who we are. Our words express our beliefs – our thoughts on this … More A Language of Love
Luke 24: 36b-48 Looking through the pages of history, while I think we’d all agree that every moment bears some measure of significance, there are those moments – those events, those natural occurrences, those human actions – that have measurable significance in much larger ways. Some, for better or for worse, forever changing the course … More A Foundation of Forgiveness
John 20:19-31 Thanks to the writers of our Revised Common Lectionary, year after year, on this weekend, the second Sunday of Easter, the assigned Gospel lesson is always the same. That text you just heard me read, from John chapter 20. This post resurrection story – the risen Jesus appearing to the disciples, minus Thomas, … More Faith in the Face of Doubt
Maundy Thursday 2024 – John 13: 1-17, 31b-35 We come together this evening for Maundy Thursday – the beginning of the Great Three Days, the Paschal Triduum… With just hours left of Jesus’ earthly life, our Gospel story moves ever closer to its climax as he gathers with his disciples for the final time… As … More Saint Judas
It was a spring day, in the year 33 AD – the beginning of the week of Passover – what was and continues to be recognized as the most sacred week of the Jewish year. Members of the Jewish faithful from all over the Roman world made their way to Jerusalem – the capital city … More Palm Sunday – A Procession of Love
John 3:14-21 This past week, the ELCA Conference of Bishops issued an official statement calling for the permanent bilateral cease-fire in Gaza… Adding its’ voice to the ever-increasing group of faith leaders across the world – including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope – who, to put it bluntly, are fed up with all … More Love Amidst the Silence
Mark 8:31-38 Today’s gospel, presents us with the first of Jesus’ passion predictions in the Gospel of Mark – “that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” I’ve read this text a hundred … More To Speak Openly of Christ
Mark 1: 9-15 Today – the first weekend of Lent – we read from the Gospel of Mark, of Jesus baptism in the Jordan by John and of his temptation in the wilderness at the hands of Satan. It’s a familiar text. One, for regular church goers at least, that we’ve heard time and time … More America, the Wilderness
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 At the very beginning of the Bible, after crafting the heavens and the earth from a formless void, after separating light from darkness and dry land from the waters, after dividing the expanse above from the expanse below, and creating plants and animals big and small in their various kinds – deeming … More Ash Wednesday 2024 – What looks like us will die, but what’s really us will live on
Mark 1:29-39 This week, in the life of the church, we commemorate the Holy Martyrs of Japan – the 26 Catholic Christians who were executed on February 5, 1597, in Nagasaki, Japan because of their faith in Christ. Most historians agree that the earliest known presence of Christianity in Japan dates back nearly fifty years … More The Healing that is Eternal
Sermons at St. James Gettysburg 